Photogaphy Unlocked by Dunlop

Has any fellow Nikonites had experience or recommendations on the Josh Dunlop, "Photography Unlocked", ebook? I have purchased other books and online videos that have helped, but I am still lacking putting it all together. What I am looking for is something that picks a setting and goes on to tell you how they chose the camera settings to achieve the optimum picture. According to his description, he does this through pictures.


jctusa

jctusa said:

What I am looking for is something that picks a setting and goes on to tell you how they chose the camera settings to achieve the optimum picture.

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No experience with the book at all, but what you're looking for is something that is as wide as it is deep, and if you're asking me (which you are, indirectly) I would say that it's the wrong way to approach learning photography because it puts an emphasis on a single type/style of photograph and then tells you how to set your camera to realize a single interpretation of that scene. I would posit that you should, instead, learn the fundamentals of your settings and focal lengths, and how each impacts the details of a photo, so that when you encounter a particular thing you want to shoot you now have the knowledge of what drives the particular look your going for.

For instance, when you're shooting landscapes there are almost as many ways to shoot them as there are actual landscapes. Do you want shallow depth of field to emphasize an aspect of it, or do you want to show everything in a grand vista? What is your light like, are you shooting into the light or is it behind you? Is light varied enough that a single exposure may not capture all available light information, so perhaps you want to shoot different exposures to combine in post?

Now I understand different people learn differently, and being tutored on the fundamentals of the "exposure triangle", how focal length effects the spacial relationships between objects in a photograph, aperture and depth of field, etc., outside of a practical situation may be more daunting for some and therefore far less applicable afterwards, but unless that stuff gets into your head then you're going to need to essentially relearn the basics for each and every type of photograph. With that said, I went looking for this book you mentioned just to see what I could see and couldn't even find it, and I'm pretty handy with a search engine, so that tells me it's not commonly used. What resources have you used and what, specifically, are you trying to "put together"?

Thanks for your response. I know practice, practice, and more practice is the answer to my underlying question, but of course I haven't been doing that. Every time I plan on taking a string of photos to "learn" my settings, my model gets impatient. I guess I should concentrate first on stationary objects, but not what I want to do.

Last night we were in a restaurant and this is the first time I have taken my Nikon D5300 with me, instead of my more compact Canon G12. I started snapping away in a average indoor light with out the flash and wasn't pleased with the results and then my model got uncomfortable and people start looking, so I stop. I guess the best thing for me is to just find something and start taking pictures and change the settings with each photo and then come home and see what looks the best.

I don't want to put the camera on Scene as that would defeat my purpose of buying this camera, but I do want to be able to know - at least where I should start. Using 50mm lens, subject 15 feet away, I don't know what would be a good place to start. The only thing I am comfortable with is depth of field and IOS, which I "think" I understand.

Dunlop, says he carried around a Canon manual and referred to it when first starting out. I don't want to be that guy, who wants to take a picture and has to pull out a book to do it.

jctusa

You're impatient...you're trying to learn everything at once. Not gonna happen. There's a learning curve to photography that takes time and patience.

You say you should concentrate on stationary objects but it's not what you want to do. Well...I'm afraid you're not going to learn anything unless you learn the fundamentals and basics of DSLR photography. There's a big difference between what you WANT to do and what you HAVE to do! This is not a point and shoot camera you have there. It's a complicated piece of machinery that will take time to learn to use properly. Read the Manual that came with the camera, take your time, practice on a bowl of fruit, a mannequin, a tree, flowers, etc. until you learn what does what. Learn the Triangle (ISO - Shutter speed - Aperture).

Any questions after you learn those fundamentals, don't be afraid to ask. Take tons of pictures and have fun.

This book?

https://expertphotography.com/photography-unlocked-today/

Have you looked at any of Brian Peterson's books? This one on understanding exposure is terrific.

Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera: Bryan Peterson: 0884798534707: Amazon.com: Books

And once you understand the basics, Brian's book on seeing creatively is also excellent.

Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography (Updated Edition): Bryan Peterson: 9780817441814: Amazon.com: Books

Could not agree more with both Jake and Jack. Photography simply can not be reduced to a collection of "recipes" you dial in under specific circumstances for great results every time; it simply doesn't work that way. You have to learn what tools you have and how they work; both independently and in concert with one another, so you can get your camera to produce the picture your eye is seeing or your mind visualizing. That's no small task and it takes time and it takes concerted effort to learn and master.

I suggest you start by learning about the Exposure Triangle since this will form the foundation of every shot you take for as long as you take them.
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I've got my view upon it.

I don't think practice is the important part, although it makes perfect, but experimenting is.

The problem with learning how to shoot, whether you use a book, tutorials or whatever, is that while they indeed can teach you how to take a decent shot, what they seldom provide is an understanding of what your cam is capable doing and what it can't. Experimenting provides you that. Instead of doing things as they are supposed to be done, or as the books says, you try whatever comes to your mind, change whatever settings you prefer and check the results. It doesn't matter that many of those shots will be bad if that makes you understand why they are bad. You'll occasionally stumble upon things that might not be in the book. Evidently you can do both simultaneously; learn from whatever source and experiment but lazy as we humans are, we often neglect the experimenting the moment we get what we want. However, during experimenting we could discover that we very much want this thing we not knew to be possible before we discovered ourselves.

These days the basics are simpler. You have to know how to expose correctly. If you don't meter light yourself, manual mode isn't that important unless you go beyond the capacities of the cam's lightmeter. Put it in A or S and either use auto-ISO or manual ISO. The cam will use the setting required for the other to expose correctly. Correctly as what the cam considers correct.

Then try things. It doesn't matter what. Just try something, find out what it does and whether it works or not and then try something else.

In the end you get an understanding that goes beyond how to take a good shot.

Hark, That is the book I was referring to. I will look into Understanding Exposure.

I have purchased some online video classes, from Craftsy, Great Courses and also iphotography, which did go over the basics - I guess it just didn't sink in far enough. It seems that my main problem is indoor low lighting, so that is where I will have to go and just take pictures.

jct

jct, please don't get discouraged by members who don't agree with your way of wanting to learn. What they don't understand is how learning truly works. I have an education degree (teaching music), but the fundamentals of learning are the same.

By dialing in the settings to use to replicate a scene, it is the most basic of learning which is rote. Think of a child learning his/her ABC's. They can sing the letters to a melody, but they really don't understand what the letters are. They can neither write the letters nor can they read them. You won't learn a whole lot this way yet down the road you will gain the understanding as to why those settings work. Learning involves climbing the ladder of knowledge, and Bloom's Taxonomy is an example of learning (image comes from Bloom’s Taxonomy: Encouraging Higher Cognitive Thinking in Primary School Classrooms | Successful Teaching)




Learning by rote falls into the Knowledge category of Bloom's Taxonomy so it shouldn't be knocked.


Here are the basics of photography:

Aperture: The aperture is the f-stop number such as f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6 and can go really high such as f/32. The aperture will control the depth of field. If you want a shallow depth of field, you will want a lower number (lower as in f/2.8 or f/4). If you want more sharpness throughout the image, you will want a higher aperture such as f/11 or f/16.

Shutter Speed: The shutter speed is the length of time it takes to record the image such as 1/250" (the " denotes seconds), 1/16", 1 second, etc. If you want to intentionally show some blur, you will want to use a slower shutter speed. If you want to make sure you achieve sharp focus, any possibility of motion must be frozen using a faster shutter speed.

ISO: The ISO dictates the amount of noise and measures the amount of light hitting the sensor. It also can act as a way to balance the aperture and shutter speed--by raising the ISO, you are able to use a faster shutter speed and/or a smaller aperture.

Take a look at this article which explains it further: Learning about Exposure - The Exposure Triangle - Digital Photography School

all i can say is going back to basics helps as well - AI/non-AI manual glass. Camera won't help you get anything but set shutter speed and release it. You have to think even if you want to take a snapshot and just sheer thinking about how to set the camera gets you thinking about whatever you're about to shoot more so than you would with assists. It makes you slow down, stand and stare which end up being quite beneficial in the longer run.

J-see said:

I've got my view upon it.

I don't think practice is the important part, although it makes perfect, but experimenting is.

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Absolutely agree. However, I tend to think of practice and experimenting in the same vein. In order to practice, you have to experiment to a certain extent IMHO.

But no matter how you learn, keep at it, don't get discouraged, and just keep shooting. Yes it takes time, yes there's a lot to it...but you'll get it eventually. No rush, right?

jctusa said:

Has any fellow Nikonites had experience or recommendations on the Josh Dunlop, "Photography Unlocked", ebook? I have purchased other books and online videos that have helped, but I am still lacking putting it all together. What I am looking for is something that picks a setting and goes on to tell you how they chose the camera settings to achieve the optimum picture. According to his description, he does this through pictures.


jctusa

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jctusa, how hard is it to get a simple answer to a direct question? Either you have or have not read the book. Do you really need all these lectures from "Pros" that tell you to practice, like they are giving up their grandmother's spaghetti sauce recipe! I have not read the book but I see it's only ten bucks so go for it. Also Josh has some Youtube clips as do a million other top photographers who are willing to give up any information that you need. Good luck. NikonMarty Ps, I did like Hark's answer, lot of effort on his/her part, good person.

NikonMarty said:

jctusa, how hard is it to get a simple answer to a direct question? Either you have or have not read the book. Do you really need all these lectures from "Pros" that tell you to practice, like they are giving up their grandmother's spaghetti sauce recipe! I have not read the book but I see it's only ten bucks so go for it. Also Josh has some Youtube clips as do a million other top photographers who are willing to give up any information that you need. Good luck. NikonMarty Ps, I did like Hark's answer, lot of effort on his/her part, good person.

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Wow... great way to jump in with a first post and bash all the folks that are trying to help, AND drag back up a thread that is over 7 months old. If ya re-read, I think you'll find most were making suggestions, not just jumping in to "harsh the mellow" (as my 15 y/o often says). I certainly didn't see anything too crazy... maybe I'm just a blind old bald man?

Anyway... Welcome to the forums! We've got an intro thread for ya to share a bit about yourself, info about your kit, and perhaps a couple of photos to start. I look forward to future interactions!

Pretzel said:

Wow... great way to jump in with a first post and bash all the folks that are trying to help, AND drag back up a thread that is over 7 months old. If ya re-read, I think you'll find most were making suggestions, not just jumping in to "harsh the mellow" (as my 15 y/o often says). I certainly didn't see anything too crazy... maybe I'm just a blind old bald man?

Anyway... Welcome to the forums! We've got an intro thread for ya to share a bit about yourself, info about your kit, and perhaps a couple of photos to start. I look forward to future interactions!

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Good morning...sorry if I came off as "bashing" was not the intent, I did give credit where credit was due. When a specific question is asked I want a specific answer. If you said to me hey Marty you know Stairway to Heaven what is the chord progression? Would you be happy if i said, don't do it my way, figure it out yourself and just keep practicing? I doubt it. As for the "drag" of an old thread of 7 whole months, it's all over Facebook the last few days so it is very current. AND I decided to pay the ten bucks and buy it. I thought it may be a scam or just the same old same old but I was blown away. I have over 50 years experience and was very impressed, maybe the best 10 bucks any photographer will ever spend.

Thank you for the welcome, and I look forward to more interactions as well. I will get some personal info on here shortly.
NikonMarty

Marketing?

Bourbon Neat said:

Marketing?

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Yes, I agree, it is a full marketing blitz job and I should know better at my age but I think it is great for ten dollars. I didn't learn anything really other than to maybe look at a couple things in a different light (no pun). If I was new to photography, this is a ten dollar bill very well spent.